TIME Travel
by Kitsune Foxfire
Summary: It's a known fact that whenever something was on Tony's mind he invented things. Things that SHOULDN'T always be invented. Like a time machine for instance. If you asked Bruce, that was defiantly one that was going right to the top of the list of things 'Tony Did Not Need To Invent' as soon as they got out of the 1940's. If they did. Who knew being his Science Bro would be so hard?
1. Chapter 1

**Kitsune here with a new story. YEAH I already have a ton I'm working on. I'm blaming WeRunYonder for this one, she said I could. It'll be a fun one and updated whenever. Let me know what you think, alright?**

 **Question of the chapter: "Is there any such thing as too many stories?" Not for me apparently.**

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"Bruce! Bruce, you're just in time!" Tony crowed, a maniacal look in his eyes brought on by a combination of too much caffeine and being in the lab too long.

Bruce naturally didn't let that stop him from coming into Tony's lab, but he was a tad bit more cautious than he would normally be. "In time for what?"

"THIS!" He flapped a grease covered hand. "Though, since it's a temporal displacement device, you could argue you're always on time…"

"You built a Time Machine." Bruce wasn't expecting more than the distracted nod as he felt the usual 'dealing with Tony' headache coming on. He shouldn't be surprised really… they'd all left him alone for about a day to get over the latest fight he'd had with Pepper, but still… "Really Tony?"

"Mmmm, just got to name it. JARVIS, be a dear and think of a witty acronym for Time."

"Might I suggest _Travel Improves Man's Existence,_ Sir?"

"Is that the best you can do, J?"

"Well, it's that or _Tony's Idiocy Might Explode._ " The AI sniped back. "Doctor Banner, perhaps _you_ can talk some sense into him."

"I can try…" Bruce took those last few steps closer to the machine. It wasn't exactly pretty to look at yet. That would come after Tony's maniacal high wore off and his sensibilities were offended by the bare wires everywhere - but it was still a thing of beauty. "Tony. Why did you build a time machine?"

Dark brown eyes, glassy from lack of sleep looked at him like _Bruce_ was the one who was nuts before Tony slowly blinked, chewing on his tongue. "I wanted to see if I _could_."

And this was why Pepper needed to be sainted for being willing to stay in any form of long term relationship with Tony. The physicist reminded himself of that and tried to squash the voice in his head that was telling him it was all her fault. To be fair, she should know by now Tony wasn't going to change who he was, even if he wanted to. But once a year or so she brought up how _dangerous_ being Iron Man was, and how much stress it put on their relationship… If Bruce didn't honestly love the woman like family he'd be as angry as Clint was over her putting their friend in such a spot. He knew she brought it up out of worry though, even if her constant reminders were what was _really_ killing their relationship.

"Alright, you built it. Now why don't you come away from there and let's go get something to eat?" Bruce suggested. "I think there might be some poptarts left…" He muttered, knowing to start small. Step one, get Tony away from the machine. Step two, distract him. Step three, have JARVIS archive it so he wouldn't go poking it again. Wasn't the first time he'd Tony-wrangled.

Tony chewed absently on a grime covered thumb, eyes flitting over his latest invention as he practically bounced with nervous energy. "Yeah yeah, in a second. I just want to-"

"TONY NO!" The inventor's hand flitted out and depressed a panel as the world flashed white-black and spun. Bruce _thought_ he heard JARVIS attempt an override but everything sounded too loud and muffled at the same time. His head was _killing_ him and the Other Guy was shifting nervously in the back of his mind. Just as suddenly as it all started it stopped. "TONY!"

"What? I was just testing it!" Tony grumped, fiddling with the smoking wires still.

"What's wrong?"

"It fried some wires. I'm going to need to fix it. JARVIS, give me a reading."

There was no answer, and Tony froze in place, eyes rising to Bruce's before both men spun in a tight circle and took in their new surroundings. It was definitely _not_ the Tower, even if a good amount of things not bolted down in the lab seemed to have made the journey with them. No, it was what appeared to be a construction site. Bruce took of his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Stay here, and don't touch anything." Tony mutely nodded, even as he started gathering up the debris. Well, he wasn't touching the machine, so that counted for something. Sneaking out of the construction site was too easy, thanks to all the practice Bruce had. The Other Guy was fond of hiding out in abandoned places after all. What he saw on the other side of the fence though, that was going to take some getting used to.

"So, what did you see?" Tony asked, jittery as ever when Bruce came back. "Don't tell me I dumped us off in Russia. Nat'll be so pissed if I did and we left her behind-"

"The good news is we're still in the city." Bruce sighed sardonically.

"Awfully quiet to be the city…"

"Well, you did invent a _TIME_ _MACHINE_ Tony!" The normally calm man shot back.

Both men stared at eachother for a moment. "Alright, _when_ are we?"

"1940's? I'm not sure. Can you get us home?" Bruce was definitely NOT going to think about what damage the Other Guy could do here. NOT thinking about it.

"No. Yes. It'll be a while. And I'm going to need some things." Tony pouted. "I was just trying to go back to last week." Before the fight started, of course. "Honest Bruce."

"It's fine, Tony." He sighed. "Just… we need to fix this."


	2. Chapter 2

**Kitsune here with Chapter 2! It was about 1/2 done when Chapter 1 went up so it wasn't that hard. I hope you like it. 'Yonder keeps giving me ideas... It should be a fun story! Anyway, things have been crazy at work this last week and I hope you're all doing well. Thanks for the positive feedback!**

 **Question of the chapter: Have you ever been to a play or musical? I've been to a few off Broadway ones... like 3? And a bunch of highschool ones to support my cousin who is really into theater arts. The singing gives me a migraine though, so...**

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"Howard, don't be ridiculous." Peggy said for what had to be the twentieth time that morning. "You said yourself that you placed all of your experiments in a new, more secure location, did you not?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"And Mr. Jarvis and I managed to retrieve the pieces that had already been stolen, with great risk to ourselves I might add, did we not?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"So wouldn't you agree that it seems rather far fetched that you have once again been the victim of such a theft?"

Howard glowered at her, "I know what I saw, Pegs! That rotten Frenchie had _my_ tech in his bag!"

Alright, that was pretty damning if Howard had seen whatever this tech was. He did have an eye for his own inventions, after all. "Alright then, Howard. Say I believe you. Is it possible he might have bought it from you at an earlier time? During the war perhaps?"

Howard gave pause at that, taking a sip of his well doctored coffee. "Normally I'd say no, but… I'll be frank with you, Peg. I didn't recognize the man. And the stuff he had…" Howard shook his head, "It was definitely Stark Tech, but he'd done something to it. I don't like it."

"Well, that _is_ troubling."

"Not as troubling as this." He leaned forward, "The smarmy bastard said he bought it off of _me_! Some guy is going around pretending to be _me_! I mean, of all the nerve! I know I'm good looking and all, but-"

"Your paper, sir."

"Thanks, Jarvis." Howard smiled up at his butler, knowing full well what the man had just done. "Anyway, you think you two could look into this for me?" He wiggled his eyebrows, "For old time sakes?"

"How about I agree to do it so whatever it is you lost this time doesn't end up blowing up half the city?" Came her arid reply. Seeing Howard flinch wasn't as satisfying as she'd hoped and Peggy sighed. "Oh, all right. I suppose I can look around and see what comes up. As a thank you for allowing Angie and I to stay here." She looked up at Mr. Jarvis, "The usual times will suffice?"

"Indudibly. I look forward to your call." Jarvis smiled, passing her a folded leaf of paper that no doubt had whatever relevant information the man had already obtained. It looked like Peggy was in for some more long nights.

It took her a little while to track down the Frenchman. When Peggy finally did, she wasn't sure she'd consider it ironic that the man was attending a play about Captain America. Honestly, she'd known that with the public still in love with Steve the way they were that Radio Shows were not going to be enough. The men in the office who had children had mentioned that comic books were coming out now, and she supposed she should just be glad that it wasn't a movie. At least as a play she wouldn't be subjected to whatever cobbled together footage they managed to dig up of him with some bad actor trying to _be_ Rogers. As if anyone could. As a play it wasn't quite so bad.

Still, she winced a bit as she entered the theatre, climbing up into the private box seats to locate Mr Perrot. The singing wasn't _bad_ per say, but the lyrics held an air of desperately false patriotism to one who'd been so close to Steve. It made her miss him all the more. Finding the Frenchman turned out to be a simple matter. Only two boxes were occupied, the first holding a man who appeared to be drunk. He was refusing to let the poor usher leave, instead pointing out every single plot inconsistency. Peggy found his insights humorous and if she had more time she might have joined him, but unfortunately she had work to do.

"Do you have zee item?" She ducked back behind the curtain, having almost been spotted. Peeking into the box she spotted the aged scientist Mr Perrot speaking with a man who in her not so humble opinion didn't look a _thing_ like Howard. For one thing, he was shorter. His hair was longer with a bit of a curl, and he wore glasses. If that was Howard, she was a duck.

"Yeah, uh, I got it." The voice was all wrong too. This man was too soft spoken, almost unsure of himself. "I'm supposed to warn you not to press the destabilizer in the left atrium?"

"Silly man! Of course I know Zis. 'Oward thiks 'e is funny, no?" She watched as the Frenchman looked over the device, holding herself back from leaping upon him. She'd tracked him down once, it would be a simple matter to find him again if Jarvis lost him outside. No, she had to stay focused and follow their mystery man. Hopefully he'd lead her right to the stolen technology.

"Err…"

Perrot waved his hand, "Everything zeems to be in ordar. 'Ere is za money. Now, go. I wish to watch za end of the play."

"Right… Thanks for your time." The dark haired man stood, and Peggy barely had time to hide in an empty box before he walked by. "Asshole. Tony better appreciate this…." She was surprised when the man didn't leave immediately, instead turning into the only other occupied box. "Tony?"

"Bruce! Look at this! This is so bad, it's not even funny!" The loud man from before answered him. Slowly Peggy moved to where she could see them. The man, Bruce, sunk into the seat like a man who was beyond exhausted. Tony didn't seem to notice at all. "He'd NEVER do that! COME ON!" A fist slammed onto the balcony, and this Tony turned to the usher, a manic gleam in his eye that even Peggy could see from where she was. "First off, that actor is at LEAST two inches too short. Secondly, Steve has like, at least fifty pounds on him. The guy is pure muscle. Point Break is BARELY bigger, and he's a god!"

"Tony…."

"It's true! And a blonde?" He sounded offended by the very idea, and Peggy had to stifle a laugh. "He'd _never_ go for a blonde. Unless it was a golden retriever. We should get him a dog-"

"Tony, did you get _any_ sleep last night?" Bruce sounded resigned.

"Um. maybe about an hour? I fixed the radio though."

"There was nothing _wrong_ with the radio."

"We couldn't get anything broadcasted past a ten mile radius! Ergo, there was _something wrong_ with the radio." Tony sounded smug. "I listened to the BBC this morning."

"How much coffee have you had?"

"I lost track."

Bruce sighed turning to the usher. "Could you do me a favor and bring me some strong aspirin and water for my friend here?"

"I don't need any pills!"

"They're for me, Tony."

"Oh. Ok then. Carry on. Just hurry back for the finale! I can't wait to see what bull they pull out for this Red Skull guy." The usher ducked past Peggy, barely giving her a glance as he hurried out of the box.

Truthfully she doubted he'd be back. But that was fine. Now she had a clear view of the man called Tony. _This_ man, she could possibly see mistaken for Howard. There was a certain resemblance in the way they carried themselves. The hair, of course, was styled differently. And she thought she spied a beard on this man. But if one had not met Howard, they could be mistaken. Committing both men to memory she hurried out of the theatre and over to where she was planning on a rendezvous with Jarvis. Now that she knew who her targets were, their first names at least, she just had to get them alone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Kitsune here with the new TIME chapter. Next thing to update SHOULD be SKIDS or ADOPTED…. When I have time. I miss free time. Oh! So I got my kitten. And my mom got one, too. They're brothers, ½ Maine Coon, ½ British Shorthair. Mine is a silver broken taby (meaning he has spots) named Gambit and my mom's is a black tuxedo named Ben. All the cuteness.**

 **Question of the chapter: "What's your favorite Marvel Character?" I have a few. Tony Stark, Wolverine, Gambit, Peter Quill, DareDevil and Deadpool...to name a few. Female wise I like Storm, BlackCat, and Gamora… AND Peggy Carter!**

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If there was one thing Tony loved almost as much as he loved Science, it was coffee. He needed it to _live_ , especially since he'd basically given up drinking after Afghanistan. Even before then, he'd always been a fan of a good brew, but now? Who knew there were so many kinds of fantastic coffees in the world? Bruce could keep his teas, not that Tony particularly _minded_ Tea, but he didn't have the patience to steep the leaves _just right_. Plus, leaf-juice totally tasted like leaf-juice if he forgot to take the leaves OUT of the water when he got distracted. Though he did add Matcha to his smoothies. Made them extra green.

Where was he again?

Oh, yes! Coffee! He LOVED Coffee. Being stuck in the 1940's was almost a _complete_ nightmare - he still wasn't sure what went wrong- except for the one little fact he'd found this _amazing_ little diner with what had to be the _best_ pot of coffee not brewed by yours truly he had ever had. He nodded in greeting to the rather attractive waitress as he slid onto a vacant stool at the counter, already pulling out a pen to jot down a note on the napkin.

"The usual, Hun?"

"Mmm….?" He glanced up, blinking away the fuge of particle accelerator formulas with a bright smile, "That would be fantastic, Angie… It is Angie, isn't it?" He blinked, glancing at her nametag, "YES! I knew it! Knew it." He snapped his fingers, twirling his pen. "Usual. Usual would be good."

In reply she just snorted. In the two weeks that he'd been visiting the diner he supposed she'd become somewhat used to his antics, and given that she hadn't run away or given him a look of disgust, he would reasonably assume she knew someone almost as impossible to deal with. Not that Tony thought he was impossible- all the time…. "Another long night, Mr. Ironman?"

"How many times do I have to tell you, call me _Tony_." He flashed her a winning smile. "And if you must know, yes. Horribly long. Also, my flat-mate snores. Didn't get any sleep."

"Why don't you tell him?"

"Can't. He's a little… sensitive about some things. So I fixed the fridge."

"The what?" She asked, frowning as she poured his coffee.

"Uh, the Icebox."

"Oh. Where you guys from again, anyway?" Taking a long drink of his coffee he pouted at the plate of scrambled eggs and toast she put in front of him. "You can't just live on coffee, Hun."

"Malibu, and I can try." He informed her rebelliously. Still, he dutifully scooped up some of the eggs with his fork and tried them, eyes widening in surprise. "These are amazing! Not as good as the coffee, but still!"

"I'm glad you approve." She smiled, sliding over some more napkins for him to doodle on. "Give me a shout if you need anything else, Mr- Tony."

Through no fault of his own, Tony was already absorbed in his little notes again by the time she walked away. It was harder to stay engaged with what was going on around him. Especially without someone actively attempting to drag him back into reality every few minutes. He couldn't begin to think of the problems his focus issues had lead to in the past. Now, JARVIS had protocols to prevent little things like Tony collapsing from dehydration or sleep deprivation, and would even shut down the lab if he hadn't been around other people in seventy-two hours…. but JARVIS wasn't here, and Bruce was sleeping. Poor guy really did need his sleep, too. And it wasn't like Tony needed a _babysitter_ or anything. Even if Bruce usually would keep Tony from totally spacing out in his work.

Angie had seen them both enough to have seen Bruce drag him out of the diner a time or two, so Tony was reasonably sure she'd either keep the coffee coming all day or chase him out after a while. He felt completely justified in ignoring the world around him in that case. Even if his nose _did_ twitch slightly at the stink of too much cologne as a man sat on a stool a little way away from him. He just absently turned his stool and started working on his notes on the other side.

Tony couldn't say how long exactly he continued to sit there in a Science induced fuge fueled by coffee, but he did finally realize when Angie took his mug away. He looked up at her with a playful pout. "Sorry Tony, I have to close out my tables before I can leave…"

"Aww, does that mean you're kicking me out?"

"I'm afraid so." She smiled, "You could always move over to Brenda's section, if you want to stay? After you settle your tab, of course."

He blinked owlishly at the clock on the wall behind her which now read 12 O'clock. He'd been there at least three hours. "Nah. I better see how Brucey is doing without me." He stood, not even slightly uncomfortable after being hunched over the counter for so long and dug in his pocket as she turned to her other customer to settle their bill. "That should cover it, Angie. Thanks again."

"Uhh, Sir? You forgot your change." Angie's hand on his arm stopped him from walking away.

Tony glanced at her in confusion for a moment before smiling. "No, I didn't."

"But... Tony! This is like ten dollars!" It was obvious the overworked waitress didn't believe him.

Quickly doing the math Tony realized he'd left money for what his meal would have cost in his _own_ time, not in the 1940's. Not that it mattered much to him. He and Bruce had been doing _very_ well. "That's for you sweet cheeks."

The man with the _absolutely foul_ smelling cologne snorted as he scooped up his own change. "Yeah I _bet_ I know what you're paying her for." He sneered.

"Excuse me?" Angie asked, looking horrified.

"All it takes is a good tipper to open you right up, Angie baby"

Tony spun and got in the man's face. "You know what I can't stand? Arrogant pricks like you who give the rest of us men a bad name. Here this LOVELY woman is working her butt off - it's a lovely figure by the way- and bringing your ungrateful ass whatever all while on her feet for what? A dollar a day? And she's on her FEET all day. I'd like to see YOU try it sometime, fatass. This girl here, no, excuse me. This WOMAN here, she could kick your ass. She's got you beat in every way that matters yet you sit there and judge her based solely on her gender. You are a pig and it makes me ashamed to have sat next to you."

The pig pretending to be a man just snorted. With a grunt that showed how much of an effort it was for the guy to actually _get up_ he rose and turned to leave, but not before he had the audacity to slap Angie's rear as she scooted out from behind the counter. _THAT_ was the last straw for Tony. Before Angie had even a chance to react, he had the man's arm in a bone bruising grip. "HEY!"

"Don't you 'hey' me. You don't treat a woman like that."

The man tugged futilely in his grasp, but Tony wasn't an Avenger for nothing. "I was just having a little fun with her. Right Doll-face?"

Dark chocolate brown eyes bore into the blue ones of the stranger. "The lady doesn't look like she was having _fun_. Besides, didn't I _just_ get done telling you to treat women better?" With a deft twist he hand the man's hand pinned up as close to his shoulder blades as the considerable girth would allow. Tony clapped another hand on the man's shoulder, smiling at Angie. "I'm just going to see our _friend_ out."

"LET GO OF ME!" He deliberately walked him into a table, earning a yelp.

"Oo sorry about that. Here's the door, lucky for you it opens out, huh?" Tony was sure he had a wicked grin on his face but he didn't care. The attitude of some people in this time was just _horrible_ , both sexist and racist. It made him _sick_ honestly. If Bruce was here, he'd never get away with doing something like this, but damn if it didn't feel good to throw the jerk to the ground outside on the street corner. "If I _ever_ catch you in here again- or disrespecting women- I'll do a lot more than toss you on your fat ass. Are we clear?"

Something in his eyes must have told the man he was deadly serious about it, because the man swallowed whatever protest he had before scrambling to his feet and walking off as quickly as possible. It was a bit of a letdown. A fight might have been nice. Still Tony smiled over his shoulder at Angie who was watching him with wide eyes. "I've taken out the trash for you, sweetheart. No need for you to do it yourself. You just let me know if that blowhard comes back…. but I better go. You know, before Brucey-boy realizes I snuck away again."

Tony was so fixated on leaving he didn't realize he left the pile of napkins filled with notes on the counter. It wasn't like they were of anything important really. Just ideas he had, like always. Honestly, he just didn't like the way everyone was staring at him, and going back would just lead to more staring. Bruce was going to lecture him about making a scene and drawing attention to himself. Still, Tony had done what he knew was right, and even Banner would have done the same, he was sure of it. Though he wasn't planning on _telling_ the other man what had happened either way. Not without the promise of more Coffee… and Tea for Bruce.


	4. Chapter 4

**Kitsune here with the next chapter! I had some help on this one by Werunyonder. So Thanks to her for that. Not much to say except things are starting to move. Next update I'm going to work on when I have time is Skid Marks, and I want to start an original story…. but time! gah time…**

 **Question of the chapter "What's your favorite social media?" I like Tumblr and Facebook really...and then Twitter.**

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It had been a long hard day at the SSR as far as Peggy was concerned. Most of the men she worked with still treated her like a glorified secretary, and those who _didn't_ also piled an ungodly amount of work on her. For some reason they all seemed to think no matter what else was going on, she was more than willing to do all their filing and organizing for them. On top of her own work. Honestly, she had to stop doing that. She would, too, except then she was sure nothing would ever be filed _properly_ and then where would they all be?

It was with fond thoughts of hitting her coworkers with their case files that Peggy put on the kettle for tea, calling out to her housemate in case the other was there. "Angie? I'm home!"

"Ooo, you're home early, Peg. Short day at the office?" Angie called back from somewhere within the massive house.

"You could say that." Or just that there wasn't anything that required her to investigate further at the moment. Not without any leads on that Howard impersonator. "And what about you?"

"I had the morning shift. Studying lines for an audition I got after work tomorrow. Wanna help?"

Peggy nodded, a smile gracing her lips as she went to the cabinet nearest the sink for a cup to use. "Just as soon as I've had some tea. Would you like a cup?"

"Sure, hun." Angie replied, taking the kettle off the burner and adding the tea leaves. "So's, you remember that weird guy I told you about from the diner? The one that drinks coffee like it's going out of style?"

"I do believe you've mentioned him a time or two." Peggy laughed, adding the sugar to the cups. Just one small scoop in each but after the sugar rations of the war even that seemed decadent to her. It was one little vice she'd picked up from her roommate that to be honest made her feel absolutely _spoiled_. She loved it. The tea would be ready in only a few more moments. Angie had certainly mentioned the man before and what a scatterbrain he seemed to be. Still, he brightened her friend's day and she was sure he'd done something amusing today as well. Pouring the tea she handed one of the cups to her roommate and sat at the table, waiting for her to continue.

"You'll never believe what happened today!" Angie's face lit up as she slid into her seat. She leaned forward, obviously excited by whatever it was she was going to tell Peggy. "He LITERALLY threw Mr. Haskins out for manhandling me! And then he left THESE!" Angie opened her script, displaying a pile of napkins that seemed to be full of some sort of scientific information. Peggy tried to hide her frown. "I don't even know what they are, but they looked important."

Taking one of the napkins, Peggy studied it. Similar to the scribbles Howard had been forever shedding during the war. Little notes he'd just leave scattered anywhere he had been sitting sometimes. When he wasn't off chasing after a blond, that was… Yes, it definitely looked like Howard's work. "And you said he just left them there?"

"Yeah. I figured I'd keep them safe for him until he comes back." Angie carefully put the small pile at the back of her script. "I think he's a scientist or something. What if he needs them? I didn't want him to lose them." Her friend had such a good heart.

"Where did you say this man is from?" She asked, pretending not to notice the slight blush of color on her friend's cheeks.

"Malibu! Exotic, huh?" Angie leaned back in her chair, cupping her tea closely to her chest, "Mr. Tony Ironman from Malibu." She sighed more than a little dreamily. Poor dear sure had it bad.

Still, a strange man who was dropping papers that looked remarkably similar to the things she had seen Howard working on? That bore looking into. Just in case. "And you say he comes in EVERY day?"

"Pretty nearly. Sometimes his friend comes with him. Bruce Green or something?"

At least she knows where to find this Mr. Ironman. "So, what do they look like?"

"Well, Mr. Ironman is around 6'1"- That's about 185cm to you- with this gorgeous chestnut hair and brown eyes." She sighed again, lost in the moment before continuing, "Lovely jawline, with a nice goatee."

"But I'm sure you've barely noticed him."

"Oh hush, Peg. So he's cute! A girl's allowed to notice. _Plus_ , he's a Gemini."Angie drained her cup and went to put it in the sink, offering to take Peggy's. "Mr. Green is a bit shorter. Also has brown hair and eyes, though his hair's a bit longer and wavier. Sometimes he wears glasses, and he's a Taurus."

Peggy choked back a laugh, "How do you know this?"

"It was slow and we were looking at the horoscopes in the newspaper." Angie shrugged, "Mr. Ironman was going on about how they were bubkis but he was having fun anyway."

"Well, he's right about one thing; they are a bunch of hogwash." Peggy wiggled her fingers for the script, letting her friend know she was ready to help now.

"Oh don't be like that! Mine said I was in for a real break you know."

"Well then, for your sake I hope it's right." She relented. "Now what page number?"

Angie sat up a bit straighter, "Page three. I'm trying out for the part of Miss Stacy Lonell."

"Then I'm Peter Smith. Ready?"

"Sure. Thanks again, Hun."

Peggy shot her a smile, "Any time."

* * *

Peggy lifted the newspaper as Mr. Jarvis arrived in the diner, punctual as always. His eyes flitted over her as he made his way through the moderately crowded diner to sit in the booth directly behind her. A rustle let her know he picked up the menu. In a moment Angie would be over to take his order – always coffee, two sugars and a slice of toast with jam – but the menu gave the illusion he was speaking to himself. "So why did you call me here again? The missis and I were going to have a nice stroll around the park today."

"Well I shan't take too much of your time I hope. It's just that Angie, darling that she is, mentioned a rather strange man that has been visiting this very establishment. One who bears a striking resemblance to a Mr. Howard Stark _and_ a certain technical knowhow." There was a noise of surprise from behind her, "You understand why I took you away from your wife this lovely day then?"

"Yes yes, but I don't see why we couldn't have discussed this over the phon-"

"Because he is known to come in nearly every day around this time."

Angie smiled brightly at Peggy as she walked right past her over to Jarvis, "Hey Hun. You want the usual?"

"Yes, that would be marvelous. Thank you."

"No problem, Hun." There was a pause as the young woman jotted the order down on her notepad. As she turned and went past Peggy again she whispered, "Don't look now, but Mr. Tony Ironman and his friend just walked in. Look at that butt; he's so cute!"

Rolling her eyes slightly at her friend's antics Peggy lowered her paper until she could see the two men walking over to the counter. Not that she would admit it, but the one _did_ have a nice posterior. And he did look quite a bit like Howard from a certain angle. Though his skin and hair were too dark to be an _exact_ match. The other man, she thought Angie had called him Mr. Green or something like that, held himself like some of the men she had known during the war. Like he had never really left the battleground and expected gunfire and mortars to fall at any moment. The trick would be getting them to sit where she had planted a bug upon walking in so she and Mr. Jarvis could listen in on their conversation. True, it was doubtful they would say anything incriminating here but there was a chance they would make a reference. Thinking fast, Peggy reached out and laid a hand on her friend's arm. "Angie, would you mind terribly if you could seat them right there," she nodded to the spot by the pie plate that she had placed the bug under, "I want to get a good look at that 'cute butt'."

"Sure, Pegs. No problem! Maybe I'll get you his number, too, huh?" Angie joked as she went over to seat the two. "Hey Tony, why don't you boys sit right here, huh?"

"Ah look Bruce, she wants us to sit in her section. Sure sweetheart. Anything for you." The one called Tony flared a winning smile before sliding into the stool to the left of the pie plate, his friend to the right of it.

"Was there a reason you wanted them to sit there exactly or did you really want to get a look at his _cute butt_ was it?" Mr. Jarvis asked, cutting his toast.

"Well it is a rather nice- of _course_ there was a reason. Don't be a ninny. Here, with this we can listen in." She passed over a relatively simple looking watch, the receiver for the bug. She had one herself that she was quick to pull out. She recognized that voice alright. It looked like her hunch had paid off.

"Oh, I see..." The man fiddled with it, causing hers to snap and buzz a bit when she turned it on. They were not meant to be used in such close proximity to each other, after all.

"Tony! Don't stare it's rude!" They heard the one man say, and Peggy glanced up just in time to see Tony spin around in his seat.

"But Bruce! Look at them! They're like spies from a bad Austin Powers movie!"

"Maybe they're shy. Did you think of that?"

He continued on like he hadn't heard his friend, waving his arms for effect. "...Or worse, a made for TV movie. A _kiddy_ movie!"

"What Kiddy Movies have undercover agents in a diner, Tony?" She blushed slightly realizing they were talking about them. Judging my the soft 'Oh dear' behind her, Mr. Jarvis discovered it as well.

"Uhh... Spy Kids?"

"There's a movie about underage spies?"

"Yeah. Barton LOVES it." Shoving eggs in his mouth Tony chewed thoughtfully. ""There's... four of them now I think."

"How interesting. I'll have to ask Clint to borrow them. _If_ _we_ _ever_ _get_ _back_."

Tony is obviously pouting at this as he slouched over his coffee, "I'm working on it... You're such a kill joy Brucy-boy."

"I'm not the one who got us stranded in the 40's because he wanted to make up with Pepper!" She wondered what exactly he meant by that. Perhaps it was code for something.

"Hey! I... have nothing to say to that..." He put his head down on the countertop. "Should I just give up, Bruce?"

"And leave us both stranded? Are you mad?" Came the incredulous reply as Bruce cleaned his glasses.

"No. With Pepper..."

"Hey now, don't go looking to me for relationship advice! Closest I ever got was that kiss with Nat, and I'm pretty sure Clint put her up to it. At least I saw Fury handing him a twenty about ten minutes later, and that sounds like the kind of scheme Barton and Romanov would have going. Not going to say I didn't enjoy it, but I'm not exactly experienced when it comes to matters of the heart."

"At least she hasn't tazed you."

Bruce shook his head, a wry smile on his face. "Tony, I'm not sure there is anyone who hasn't wanted to taze you. It's just that Nat's got the means to do it easier than most." Stretching he looked around, offering Angie a smile when he caught her eye and signaled for more coffee. "But if things don't work out with Pepper, I'd wager you could come back and hit up that spy lady. Don't turn around, but she keeps staring at you when you're not looking..."

"Really?" He sat up straight and went to turn. Peggy quickly grabbed the paper and picked it up, even knowing it was a lost cause.

"TONY." He snapped, admonishing his friend. "And you wonder why Nat tazes you."

"But I wanna see if she's cute."

"This might be why you're having problems with Pepper..."

"Hey! No one said I can't appreciate a nice looking lady. Like Angie here." He smiled winningly, "You seem to be forgetting FORMER-Playboy here."

Angie easily smiled back, distracting the man and Peggy decided to bring back some scotch for her tonight. Her friend was a godsend. "Oo a playboy, huh? So do you live in a mansion then, Mr. Ironman?"

"Please, I told you to call me Tony. And I did, before some as-tute enemy of mine blew it up. Not like I don't own four other homes, though. Including the place where Bruce and I habitate with our slightly dangerous friends."

"Four homes? Goodness! What are you, a Stark?" Angie giggled, flirting a little bit just for fun.

Tony flinched slightly, "Stark?"

"You don't know of Howard Stark? Founder of Stark Industries? Made the super soldier serum and created Captain America? Millionaire womanizer? Do they not have newspapers out in Malibu?"

"More like Millionaire jerk and egomaniac." Tony muttered into his coffee.

"What was that, Hun?"

"Nothing."

That didn't sound like nothing to Peggy Carter, though. It sounded to _her_ like this Tony fellow had a grudge against Howard. One that could very well lead to him stealing- or sabotaging the man's work. Mr. Ironman had just moved up to the top of a very short list of suspects.

"Well, let me know if you boys need anything. Kitchen just whipped up some fresh coffee cake if you're interested in a slice."

"Coffee and cake, two of my favorite things. I'll take a slice. Bruce?"

"That sounds great. Thanks Angie."


	5. Chapter 5

**Kitsune here with an update. this might be the only update to my stories for a while. I was bitten by my 6 foot (182.88 cm) iguana. Right on my index finger of m left hand. I'm left handed- this is a problem. Needed a stitch on the spot he got down to bone, and it hurts….where it isn't numb. Wasabi was going for the food i had and missed, this was not deliberate and these things happen when you own exotics- even herbivores. But yeah. typing…. so sorry for not replying to reviews. (most of this was written pre-bite, then werunyonder helped with the rest. that and dictating to my phone.)**

 **Question of the chapter: "Strangest bite?" ….i don't even think i can say iguana….**

* * *

Bruce once more checked on Tony, making sure the blanket he had tucked around his friend wasn't going to just slide off. He was only planning on being gone a few hours at most but Tony would never let him forget it if the Billionaire got sick. After all Bruce _had_ just drugged him to get the man to sleep. He understood Tony felt guilty about getting them stuck in the past. He was happy that his friend was trying so hard to fix it…. but he could do with a little less of the maniacal frenzy and a little more of the sleeping Tony. Tony on a bender was scary. Tony on a bender drinking coffee like it was the only thing that could keep him alive was downright terrifying.

Usually one of the others switched him to decaf and waited until he crashed on his own, but decaf coffee was surprisingly expensive. So Bruce had slipped some codeine cough medicine in the coffee and waited until Tony had gone down for the count. It had admittedly taken _a lot_ of cough medicine, too. Tony was going to be sleeping for quite a while. More than enough time for Bruce to go and get a brand new radio and toss out the one his friend had somehow managed to weaponize. How the hell he got it to shoot lazors was a mystery and just went to show how much work Tony put into thinking _clean and non deadly_ if he could do this without even trying. Bruce personally blamed Howard Stark and Obadiah for raising his friend to be a literal war machine.

The sad part was Tony had been so out of it the last few hours he got the feeling he wouldn't even notice it was gone. Except the new one wouldn't get the BBC, of course. Well, it would give Tony something new to tinker with. This one was going to be rotting in the bottom of the Hutson. It was with those cheerful thoughts that Bruce put the note he'd penned on the table next to the door and slipped out, being sure to lock the small apartment behind him.

It was late afternoon, so the streets were not quite as crowded as they were going to become later. That suited Banner just fine; crowds still made him nervous.

Bruce held the modified radio closer to his chest as he walked past a man on the street corner. The _Other Guy_ grumbled in the back of his mind, not liking the look of the stranger. Bruce agreed. The man felt off more than anything else. Still, when the stranger called out, Bruce found himself stopping.

"Excuse me! Do you have the time?"

Bruce clutched the Tony-fied radio closer to his side as he hunched his shoulders and went over to the man. He really didn't have time for this, not if he was going to toss the dangerous radio somewhere safe before picking up a new one. Still, he rolled up his sleeve. "Uh. A bit after three? Maybe a little later than that."

"Ugh that dunderhead is late once again." The scowl was fierce but was quickly replaced with a genial smile that make Bruce's skin crawl. "Thank you my good sir."

"Yeah. You're welcome I guess..." The scientist turned away and had barely managed to get a yard away before he noticed the men in suits closing in. Now, Tony would call him paranoid but to be fair Banner rarely lucked out when it came to groups of men in suits approaching at a rapid pace. He turned around and went to go the other way only to spot two more coming from that direction -bringing the total to four now- and the fleeing form of the man he had just been speaking to. He did what any other Avenger - except Tony and Thor- well, what _most_ of the Avengers would do in this case. He attempted to evade them. Natasha and a Clint had taught him a lot when it came to escaping pursuit. Unfortunately most of it involved not being encumbered by a damn radio that could double as a weapon... And dropping it was _not_ an option. Nor was letting the Other Guy out.

Which meant Banner found himself tackled to the ground in under a block. "Where do you think you're going, Commie?"

"There's been some sort of misunderstanding." He gasped, both from keeping Hulk calm and because he had been hit hard. The men pinning him weren't gentle as they yanked him to his feet. "I'm not a - hey be careful with that!"

"Well well well. What have we got here? Looks like a radio-" the man sneered, "but something tells me it's not as innocent as that."

"Wha- it's just a _radio_!" Bruce hedged, "A- a piece of junk at that! Really, I was on my way to get a new one an-"

"Yeah yeah, just happened to run into your little Commie pal. Right?" The man made as if to spit on the ground but seemed to think better of it. Instead he rolled his eyes. "Cuff him."

"Hear that? Should have cooperated with us-"

" _When?_!" Bruce yelped indignantly as the dragged his arms back, eyes on the radio. He really hoped Tony put a safety somewhere on it as they manhandled him towards the street.

* * *

The small room they shoved him in was a little bit on the cool side. Not enough to be uncomfortable really, but enough that it was noticeable. Banner knew it was to help keep people unbalanced while in here, but it wasn't working on him. what was was the thought of the radio lazer thing that Tony had made being poked at and exploding did. After what felt like an eternity but was probably more like a half an hour at the most the door opened. Bruce didn't bother looking up from where he was wringing his hands trying to decide it the radio or Tony would be the bigger threat. Tony waking up alone and finding him gone was going to be an issue he was sure. The man who entered the room shoved Banner so hard his head almost hit the table top.

"We have some questions for you, Commie." The man said, pacing around the table as another walked in. This new man was looking at Bruce in a way the normally quiet man _did not_ like.

"For the last time, I'm _not_ a Communist! I don't even know why you brought me here."

A hand slammed down on the table next to him, almost making him jump. " _Sure_ you're not. We saw you talking with that guy- don't deny it!"

"He was asking for the time!" Bruce sputtered.

"Right- and you just _happened_ to have a weapon on you. A dangerous weapon, right?"

Bruce looked between the two men, eyes narrowed slightly. No, it didn't look like they'd figured out what Tony had done to the radio yet. They were grasping at straws. "It's a _radio_. That's all. It's broken so I was going to toss it and buy a new one."

"And you just had to walk blocks and blocks to do that? Couldn't just ditch it in a dumpster?" That was a good point. The man leaned in as Bruce broke eye contact. "Nice try."

The other tried a different tactic, sliding onto the table, his voice cojolling. "Maybe you just got mixed up in something, yeah? We could help you. But you gotta help us first. Right?"

He felt a headache coming on. "I don't know anything. I swear."

The one who was playing bad cop made a tsking noise, "Why don't I believe that? Really, you should just make this easier on yourself. Tell us what we want to know and we won't have to rough you up so bad."

"Is that even allowed?" His question earned him a punch in the face, surprising the normally mild mannered Bruce. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, ignoring the taunting. It was almost like Bruce could hear what his other half was saying. The longing for Tony to show up, annoyance - Tony was taking too long, and anger at the men around them. Hulk wanted to protect Puny Bruce (as Tony would put it). "You _really_ don't want to do this. The Other Guy doesn't like it."

"What other guy? The guy you were working with?"

"No." he regretted his words as another fist slammed into his gut, earning an internal roar.

"If you tell us, my partner here will stop." He somehow didn't believe that. It might have been the next punch.

"This is a bad idea, guys. You really don't want to make me angry-"

"We should be saying that to you, Commie. Just tell us what we want to know!"

The door popped open, revealing a man with tinted glasses, a trimmed goatee and a suit who smiled jovially. "Sorry wrong room," the man said, shutting the door. Bruce sighed, hanging his head as the men 'interrogating' him stood there for a beat staring at the closed door. It opened again and Tony strutted in like he owned the place. "Actually, no, no this is the right room. Hia Brucey!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Kitsune here! Sorry for the delay. You would NOT BELIEVE the shit that has been going down in my life. I won't bore you with the details, but….yeah. It has officially been crazy! Now that this chapter is done I can start on the next which should be fun…..Sorry if this one seems a little short. I'm trying to get everyone where they need to be.**

* * *

The fact that Peggy once again was overlooked for a sting operation was aggravating to say the least. The fact the men who _had_ gone expected her to do their paperwork was just plain insulting. There was no way in hell she was going to- She glanced at the grainy photo of a man with curling hair and glasses, recognizing him from the dinner a few days ago despite the poor quality. "Who's this?"

"Some Commie bastard who tried to give us the slip." Jack Thompson grinned, obviously pleased with himself over catching the man.

While part of Peggy didn't doubt this 'Mr Green' was a communist or at the very least a sympathizer, she did find it very suspicious he had been caught. It seemed too easy that one of the men she had been investigating for Howard just happened to show up here a few days after she had seen him in the diner. Feigning a lack of interest she opened the top file on her desk, ignoring the files Thompson had brought over.

"He can't be much of a spy if he was caught so easily."

"That's what he want's you to think. But tell me this, what's he doing walking all over Manhattan with a perfectly good radio? Eh? Bet you don't have an answer for that, do you? Guy walked past two electronic stores, too. Didn't even stop. Said he had to throw it in the river. What a coock."

"That does seem rather odd." She had to see that radio; it _had_ to be stolen Stark tech somehow. "And just where exactly did this radio end up?"

"Oh, we dropped it over at the lab on the way in. They'll figure out whatever secrets it's hiding, don't you worry your pretty little head over it." Agent Thompson gave her what she supposed was a charming smile for him before turning to leave. No doubt heading for interrogation where his lacking intelligence was made up for in sheer belligerence. Peggy would have to deal with that soon enough, or 'Mr. Green' would be in no condition to give her the answers she was looking for.

First though, she had to get a look at the radio. Perhaps it wasn't a radio at all, but just a disguise for some nefarious - _seemingly_ benign - thing Howard had tinkered with late one night. Or with her luck it more likely was a radio. One meant to melt the brains of enemy soldiers. Maybe she'd luck out and it would only promote a deep sleep... one you'd never wake up from. She loved Howard dearly, but sometimes she could just kill that man for his thoughtlessness when it came to inventing things. He really needed to plan things out better before making them!

Putting the assorted folders and files on her desk, Peggy eyed the room carefully. The only ones who were left in the room with her were junior agents, and while normally she would a slightly annoyed to be left out of things this time it served her purpose nicely. It meant no one bothered to even loop up as she briskly left the bullpen a single (empty) folder in her hands as she headed towards the science division.

From there it was just a quick stop over in the kitchen to pour coffee for the three men she knew would be working hard in the lab. Sometimes it helped to be seen as a glorified secretary after all. Samberly was quick enough to open the door for her, taking the offered cup with a smile and a nod of thanks before turning his attention to his current pet project - a watch that would short out all electronic devices when activated. That's what Howard had said it did anyway. So far they'd just managed to get it to zap people who were wearing it.

"It looks like it's coming along nicely." Peggy commented, ignoring the slight smell of burned skin as she looked at the watch.

Samberly snorted. "If you mean it's no longer knocking the wearer out, then yes. Stark might be a genius, but some of his inventions..."

"I know exactly what you mean."

"Carter, you know Stark from the war, right?" Doobin questioned as he came over to take his coffee from her. "You think that radio they brought in earlier today could be one of his?"

"Well, I really would have to get a better look at it, and I would hate to be in your way." She smiled, pulling on the charm.

Johnson finally looked up from where he was leaned over the item in question. "Well, _I_ sure don't know how to even get this thing to turn _on_ , so I don't see why Miss Carter can't take a look and see. Is that coffee?"

"Yes it is. A pinch of sugar and a splash of milk, correct?" She said, offering him the last mug.

"You are a life-saver. If those grunts in the office don't start appreciating you, I swear we're going to steal you away."

"And not just for your looks. Not often you find a dame that knows her way around anything more than a pencil sharpener." Doobin joked. Peggy kept the polite smile on her face even though she was highly tempted to kick him. It was attitudes like that which prevented women from continuing on in engineering after the war. Hell, even _Stark_ was guilty of underestimating the fairer sex, and he _knew_ better!

"Well gentlemen, I'd be happy to take a look." She said instead as they graciously stepped back and allowed her access to the radio. It didn't _look_ too odd. The casing was wood paneling, and she could just make out the marks where it had been opened up and put back together. Beyond that, it did look like a perfectly normal radio from the front and sides. The back was slightly different. The power cord was missing, causing her to frown. "What happened here?"

"Donno. Came in like that." Johnson told her.

"Odd." She turned it over, fingers finding a slightly warmer spot on the wood as she picked it up. "Have you opened it?"

Doobin sighed, "We've _tried_."

It was sounding more and more like something Howard had made. Her finger ran along the warm spot again, and suddenly the room was filled with _loud_ music. _Jazz?_ she thought as she turned it off. "Well, that was rather shocking." She didn't have to look to know the three men were hiding behind a table. She'd heard the scramble for cover even over the noise. Ignoring them she turned the radio on again and turned the volume dial, bringing it down to a more tolerable level. Then she tried the tuning dial, which worked as well though it felt a little bit like the knob was coming off.

"So... it's just a radio, then?"

"Perhaps..." Peggy commented, brow scrunched up as she pushed against the tuning dial. There was a high pitched whine and a burning beam of light shot out of the front of the previously innocuous clock face on the radio barely missing her. She turned her head and eyed the burn mark on the wall. "Or perhaps not."

"What-! That could have killed you!" Doobin yelped.

Peggy rolled her eyes as she turned off the radio, "Don't be so dramatic. It missed, didn't it?" She turned and gave them a smile, "And now you know how it works. Though I _must_ say it bears a striking resemblance to something Mr. Stark would make. Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I should get back to work. Files to sort and all that."

Samberly nodded vaguely, "Yeah sure... let's keep the near miss between us, though, huh?"

"Of course." She nodded back, leaving the room. The moment the door clicked closed the pleasant smile melted off her face, replaced by a more serious expression. Filing paperwork was the last thing on her mind. Oh no, she was going to find a way to see the mysterious Mr Green even if she had to pull the fire alarm to do it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Kitsune here with the next TIME! Thanks for all you wonderful reviewers. I love you all. As some of you know, things have not been going too great in my family right now, so I've been focusing more on that than writing. Mostly because Family first, and when I'm depressed my writing suffers from extreme bouts of violence and dark scenes. So…. not good for my stories like this. I'm working on it, and with the help of amazing friends like WeRunYonder I'm getting back to the point where I feel like I can write. Which is good because I miss it.**

 **Question of the chapter: Did you see CA: "Civil War? What did you think of THE KISS?" Personally I thought it was tacky and out of place. The woman's favorite aunt just died. She barely knows Steve, he barely knows her. It came off as him replacing Peggy with her in a way on one level. And on another level, what Marvel? Too threatened by the 'possible' homosexual overtones of Steve and Tony's bromance that you had to hetero Steve up? The only redeeming part was the look on Sam and Bucky's faces.**

* * *

Tony woke with the usual start to Bruce puttering too close to him, his heart beating a mile a minute, _thank you very much Ten Rings,_ despite having worked himself to exhaustion not long before. Only long practice kept him from even abortively twitching as he realized it was just _Bruce_ and _not a threat_. It wasn't the first time one of his friends had cleaned up after one of his inventing frenzies, and it wouldn't be the last. They all were convinced that when Tony Stark crashed after one of the now famous bouts he crashed _hard_ , and while once upon a time that might have been true, it wasn't any longer. Though Tony knew they wouldn't look at him any differently if they knew the truth, they were all broken on some level after all, it did usually provide a good opportunity for shopping and more often than not it was easy to drift back to sleep after whatever had woken him in the first place moved on.

This time however, the sound of Bruce leaving the apartment had Tony sitting up on the shared bed with a frown. Bruce was way too considerate to do something like that without good reason. So reluctantly the genius got up to see what had caused his friend to abandon him. He naturally disregarded the note as trivial and overly simplistic, assuming he had accidentally invented something that had caused the timid man distress. It wouldn't be the first time, and as much as it may pain Tony to admit it, he highly doubted it was going to be the last time. JARVIS usually stopped him before he made something _too_ dangerous, but stranded in the past as they were right now he had only himself to rely on which wasn't exactly the best of things. Not with years of conditioning telling him to make weapons. Sometimes he really hated himself.

Pushing those thoughts forcefully to the side as counter-productive the genius followed his friend through the streets. Bruce was ridiculously easy to tail for a man who had been on the lam for a number of years and he was once again glad that JARVIS had a subroutine going that had scrambled any news of sightings involving one very weary Bruce Banner. Not that Bruce knew this, and Tony sure as hell wasn't going to tell him he'd been watching the other's back since well before the whole Avengers thing first started. It'd be awkward. There might be _hugging_ , especially if Thor found out.

Anyway, what it meant was Tony was intimately familiar with Bruce-y Boy's habits when it came to navigating a city, _and_ his friend was an easy mark to tail. Not that Tony had _practice_ escaping notice or anything… honestly the first thing he'd learned even _before_ how to attract attention was how _not_ to. Hell, he might not be on Nat or Clint's level, but he was damn good when he wanted to be. Which was usually never. Except when tailing his friend, who was doing a _horrible_ job of being subtle. What was Bruce even thinking? His whole posture screamed 'up to something' from a block away. Damn idiot was going to get mugged and that wouldn't be good for anyone involved.

And he was getting distracted again just thinking about the last time someone had tried that. But no so distracted he missed the Muscled Bound Morons in Suits following Bruce down the street. Jesh, they were worse at the whole Stealth thing then Banner. That's it, when they got back to their New York, he was having Nat show Bruce-y how to do it. It was just painful to watch him try to dodge a tail. Seriously how did he manage to survive all that time on his own? A five year old could do….and he was down. Well that's just great. He wasn't going to let him live _this_ one down after he busted him out of whatever hiding place these goons stashed him away in.

Speaking of, a quick glance down at his own apparel, an _ACDC_ shirt and a well loved pair of grease stained jeans had Tony looking for the nearest place to buy a suit. If that just so _happened_ to take him past one of those slick looking cars he would bet a latte on belonging to the Muscle Bound Morons, well. Just gave him a chance to try out that new tiny tracker he built a few days ago. Wasn't like he was any Steve Rogers to go running down the streets of Manhattan after a car. Which the paparazzi had had a _field day with_ thank you very much, you overgrown golden retriever. That came with his own Frisbee….

The door chimed pleasantly as Tony let himself into the swank looking store, fingering the money clip in his pocket. "Ah, yes, hello." He smiled brightly at the man coming around the counter with a disapproving frown on his face.

"What can I do for you….sir?" He could see the man's lip curl in distaste.

"I need a suit."

"Then might I suggest the store on sixth street? It caters to people of your… means."

Hadn't this fool ever heard of the customer was always right? Gesh. _This_ was why Tony liked giving lots of money to those in need and sending them into posh stores. One, it got them what they needed, and two, the look on those snobs faces was totally worth it. "Only if they have better quality than this. Don't suppose you have anything Italian? No? Didn't think so." He pulled out the money clip and casually waved it before pocketing it again, "You know, I just _hate_ buying off the rack, but since my tailor won't be born for another forty years or so I've been making due. So. Wow me. Or, well, you know. Try."

"Right away, sir! Come this way!" It was so predictable how a little bit of money changed people's tunes. "What are you looking for today in our fine establishment?"

"Well, since I doubt you have anything armani…" He enjoyed the tightening around the man's eyes a little too much. "I'm looking for something in a nice obsidian black. Maybe a midnight black if you have it." He said, allowing the man to measure him.

"Right away, sir." Right away his ass. The man came back with three suits the _exact same shade of black_. Damn the 1940's anyway. Tony briefly considered asking for something in charcoal instead, but a quick glance around the store showed the suit selection was either a blue he would _not_ be intimidating in, a grey he was look washed out in, or this flat black. "Will this color do, sir?"

Tony bit back a sigh. "Yeah, it'll work just fine." And then he could always burn it after today. He slid on the first jacket, knowing his shoulders tended to be more difficult to fit than his narrow waist. Mechanic's build and all that. "I'll need a shirt and accessories, of course."

"But of course. Any special requests?"

"Red for the tie." Hell if he was giving up his colors. Bruce better appreciate this, because not only was Tony wearing an inferior suit, he was letting a stranger _touch_ him, and then he was going to have to get into a _taxi_. Tony repressed a shudder at the thought. The things he did for his friends were never appreciated.

Before long he was dressed and ready to take on the fools that thought kidnapping The Hulk was a good idea. Granted they didn't know who The Hulk was in this time, but still it wasn't a good idea to go kidnapping people off the street. Those thoughts got him through the unhappy taxi ride where he used his watch's tracking screen to find where those damn people had taken his friend. When he's shouted "HERE! Stop here!" Had the taxi driver slamming on the breaks so Tony could slip out of the vehicle, Tony was sure to pass the man a five-note on top of the faire, which was less than a dollar. Really, it wasn't much considering what a horrible passenger he knew he was normally, let alone following a tiny screen on a watch, but the man earned it. Public service work sucked. Still, the guy looked grateful enough though he didn't look back as he pulled out. Tony didn't blame him at all.

Instead he looked up at the building those oh-so-inconspicuous cars were parked in front of. "Bell Telephone company and services, Inc.," He read out loud, lips twitching in a small smile. "Like that doesn't scream cliche front. You'd think they'd do better. What with an _actual_ telephone company just a few blocks away. I know we rode past it. Jesh, I know it's a city, but it's the 40's. How many phone companies _are_ there? Two? Three? This is just sad….." He smiled winningly at the woman at the reception desk. "Hi there, darling. Mr. Ironman here. I'm not expected, but, well. I've got a meeting with one of your bosses."

Flushing slightly the woman looked down, undoubtedly glancing at both the public visitor list and the more restricted list while Tony congratulated himself on still having it even in the past. "Um, I don't see you on the list, Mr. Ironman, was it?"

"That's because I don't have an appointment, dear. But trust me, your boss is gonna want to meet with me."

"Listen if you're selling something…."

"No, your _other_ boss."

"..." Her look became frozen.

And Tony smiled brightly, "But I might be able to sell them some stuff, if that'd make you feel better. You're into spy tech, right? How about this nifty watch here? It's a tracking device, and if you look really close at the watch face-" he pressed the two bottom prongs on the watch simultaneously as he held it up to the unsuspecting woman, releasing a small yet potent dose of knock out gas from the vents on the side of the watch face. He managed to prevent her from clocking her head on the desk and gently laid it down on her paperwork. "Not really sorry about that. Now…. if I were a super secret spy-like group that was hiding in a lame place like this, where would I put the entrance to my lair….?"

He spotted the sign that said "Operator's only." and grinned. "Yatzy."

Behind the door was a sight he was pretty sure was only partially staged. A line of women sat at a long wall of phone switchboards, overly large headsets on as they connected calls. Squaring his shoulders, Tony walked to the end of the line like he knew what he was doing, being sure to mutter under his breath. "Honestly, calling me in because of a 'suspicious' guy they found on the streets? Probably some poor paranoid fool having flashbacks to the war- be a doll and buzz me in, eh?" The woman didn't even bother looking up, falling for Tony's act even as the condescending tone he used with her grated on his own nerves. "Thanks, sweetcheeks. The Missus is gonna love this…." he continued to mutter as the door she opened with a hidden switch closed behind him.

And he was in. Now all he had to do was find Bruce. Tony might have gotten this far on subterfuge but he knew better than to try it to weasel out where they were keeping his Science-bro. So, it looked like he was going to be trying every single closed door. As luck, and a growling stomach, would have it the first door he tried seemed to be some sort of break room. Spotting a vending machine holding a variety of snacks he put his search on hold as he fished out a few cents and bought a couple of bags of raisinets. Wasn't as good as blueberries, but it was better than nothing for his grumbling stomach.

So now came the tough part. Trying the first door it was just a simple storage closet. As was the next one. The one after that was an empty office, and beyond that was what looked like a bull pen in a police station. Tony wisely headed the other direction. Trying those doors the first one was an empty room with two chairs facing a window into another room. Tony couldn't keep the grin off his face s he realized he was looking at an empty interrogation room. Clint would have loved it. Figuring he'd find Bruce in one of these rooms he started to open every second door, figuring it was better to find his friend than the lame fools watching him. The next few rooms were predictably empty, and as he heard the clacking of high heels approaching he popped open the next door, expecting it to be empty as well.

Seeing three people the first words out of Tony's mouth were, "Sorry wrong room," as he shut the door. Frowning at his hand he processed what he had just seen before plastering a wide fake smile on his face to hide his anger. "Actually, no, no this is the right room. Hia Brucey!"

"Who the hell are you?!" One of them men asked.

Tony smirked, hopping up to sit on the table next to where Bruce's hands were chained. "Tony Ironman. Raisinet? No? Bruce?" He held out one of the bags and started to eat, legs swinging as no one took him up on his offer.

"How'd you-"

"Get here? Easy really. For a secret base, this place was _ridiculously_ easy to find. Also, your security is lax. Come on, the poor woman at the front desk was a breeze, and those other nice ladies? Really, you need to teach your people to check ID's." He turned to Bruce, "There's a reason Happy is so into ID checks you know. And YOU! You should be ashamed of yourself. Can't even tell when you're being tailed."

Bruce let out a long suffering sigh, "How much sleep did you get, Tony?"

"Before you started puttering around the place and left to get kidnapped? Maybe five minutes?"

"Tony…."

"Nope. You're not living this down. You got _kidnapped_. _Again_. Training with Nat. No escape."

By now the two… Tony was going to call them Agents, because they had that agent-y feel, seemed quite put out with him. "What are you-"

"Power play." Tony replied, popping a few more of the candies into his mouth. "This right here, total power play. See, you two, you come in here and try to tag team my buddy Brucey here. That's the most obvious use of power play. Then I come in and, well. Sure you don't want a raisinet?"

There was a knock on the mirrored window.

"Better go boys, someone is yanking your leash." Tony grinned before turning his attention to Bruce. "You alright?"

"I'm fine, Tony."

"Fine my ass. Who are these goons?" He asked, reaching out for Bruce's handcuffed hands.

"No clue. Where'd you get the suit?"

"Little shop somewhere downtown. Horrible place. Now don't change the subject. What had you bustling out of the room so fast?"

"Tony, you really need to stop tinkering when you've gotten no sleep."

"I got sleep three days ago-"

"And you turned the radio into a laser."

"Oh." He finished picking the locks, "Oops."


End file.
